Article #2 in a Two-Article Series >>>>> 2025 LEAD (Leading for Equity, Action, and Diversity for PreK-12 System-Improvement) Conference/College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota/Twin Cities

The Ridiculous LEAD (Leading for Equity, Action, and Diversity for PreK-12 System-Improvement) Conference, Staged by One of the Many Highly Culpable Teacher Training Institutions, the University of Minnesota/Twin Cities College of Education and Human Development, Responsible for the Abominable Quality of Public Education

The LEAD Conference staged by the University of Minnesota College of Human Development is an annual event whereby the clueless education establishment gathers in the pretense of improving PreK-12 education but each year avoids any discussion of the host institution’s role in promoting ideologies and approaches to curriculum design and teacher training that produce the abominable quality of PreK-12 education.       

 

Understand that these are the academic results for the state of Minnesota for academic years ending in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024   

 

Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments

Student Proficiency Rates

Academic Years Ending in 2012, 2022, 2023, and 2024

 

Math

 

2021   2022  2023   2024

 

35.5%     33.1%   35.1%    34.7%

 

(2,696)  (3,889)  (4,175)  (4,183)

 

Reading

 

45.9%     42.4%   41.4%    40.1%

 

(3,589)  (5,169)  (5,086)  (5,177)

 

Science

 

36.5%     33.4%   31.7%    31.8%

 

(931)     (1,478)    (1,452)  (1,535)

 

 

This year’s LEAD conference places great emphasis on social and emotional learning, how properly to educate students of various ethnic backgrounds, and how to address the dilemma of lagging school attendance across the United States.

 

Considering the contrasting approach to the concerns of the conference taken by first-rate private schools such as Breck Academy (Golden Valley, Minnesota), St. Paul Academy (St. Paul, Minnesota), and Westover School (Middlebury, Connecticut), the temporal wastefulness of the LEAD conference is seen in high relief: 

 

High-quality private schools deliver the same rigorous curriculum to students of all ethnicities, teach fact-based history and literary courses that are respectful of students of all ethnicities, and are highly sought after by parents of many racial identities who want their children to succeed as post-secondary students and in rewarding and well-remunerated careers.

 

But the public education establishment pretends that equity and diversity goals can be achieved without frankly addressing the academic failings of the public schools.

 

Perusal of the educational preparation of the keynote speakers (see Article #! In this series) and panelists at the LEAD conference reveals that, per usual, degrees are mostly conferred from programs in departments, schools, and colleges of education that are the lowest-regarded and most academically insubstantial on any college or university campus.

 

Beyond the intellectually lightweight characteristics of the keynote speakers, two sessions in the conference catch my attention for the hopelessness of any improvement in preK-12 education that the LEAD conference has to offer:

 

There is panel during 1:15-2:15 PM on the first day (Tuesday, 29 July 2025) comprised of

Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, Minneapolis Public Schools Superintendent Lisa Sayles-Adams, UMN College of Education and Human Services Dean Michael C. Rodiguez, and moderated by UMN College of Education and Human Services Professor Lesa Clarkson.

 

All of these figures are highly culpable for the dilemmas of PreK-12 education.  Understanding that I am a democratic socialist not enamored with either the DFL or the Republicans of Minnesota, Flanagan is a member of the DFL party heavily financed by Education Minnesota (the state teacher’s union) and ever resistant to reform efforts with prospects for improving PreK-12 education.  Rodriguez and Clarkson labor for one of the cash-cow, teacher-training-mill institutions most culpable for the low academic quality of public education in Minnesota.  Lisa Sayles-Adams was trained by such people and is even worse than others in her position for having written the worst dissertation that I have ever read and being a particularly deceitful, mean-spirited superintended.

 

Be reminded that the academic results at the Minneapolis Public Schools for the last decade are as follows, without any expectation that the one and one-half-year tenure of Sayles-Adams will produce better results as indicated by student performance on the MCA (Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment) that will be revealed for spring 2025 in late August, a month after the conference takes place  >>>>>

 

Minneapolis Public Schools 

Academic Proficiency Rates

Years Ending in 2014 through 2024

 

             2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024 

All

Students

 

Math     44%  44%  44%  42%   42%  42%  35%   33%  35%  35%  

 

Reading  42%  42%  43%  43%  45%  47% 40%   42%  41%  40% 

 

Science   33%  36%  35%  34%  34%  36% 36%  33%  31% 32% 

 

Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs)

Student Proficiency Rates

Academic Years Ending in 2014 through 2024

 

Note:    Data given for the academic year ending in 2024 in the category of “All Students” only;  disaggregated data for that year will be forthcoming, as will number of students tested for all categories.

 

                    2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022  2023  2024

 

African                      

American

 

Math          22%   23%   21%  15%  18%   18%   9%   10%   8%     8%      

 

Reading     22%   21%   21%  21%  22%   23%  19%  18% 16%  15%      

 

Science      11%   15%   13%  12%  11%   11%   11%   8%   6%    6%    

 

American

Indian

 

Math            23%  19%  19%   17%  17%  18%   9%    9%  10%  12%     

 

Reading       21%  20%  21%   23%  24%  25% 20%  22%  19% 18%    

 

Science        14%  16%  13%  12%  14%  17%     9%   9%    7%  12%  

 

 

                   2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022  2023  2024

 

 

Hispanic/

Latine

 

Math            31%  32%  31%   29%  26%  25%  12%  12%  12%  11%   

 

Reading       22%  21%  21%   21%  22%  23%  19%  18%  16%  12%    

 

Science         17%  18%  21%   19%  17%  16%  10%  11%    9%   8%             

 

Asian

American

 

Math            48%  50%  50%  49%   50%   47%  46%  39%  25%  26%   

 

Reading        41%  40%  45%  41%  48%   50%   54%  49% 33%  31%      

 

Science         31%  35%  42%  35%   37%  40%   43%  36% 27%  28%

 

White

 

Math            77%   78%  78%  77%   77%  75%    62%  61% 65% 68%   

 

Reading       78%   77%  77%  78%   80%  78%    74%  71% 72% 73%   

 

Science         71%  75%  71%  70%   71%  70%    61%  60% 59% 61%

 

 

The other session that particularly catches my attention is also on the conference’s first day, this one during 2:30-3:30 PM, with presenters Nate Stewart (Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development) and Dena Luna (Minneapolis Pubic Schools [MPS] Office of Black Student Achievement).  Luna heads and Stewart is a firm backer of the MPS Office of Black Achievement.  That office was established in 2014 but operates on the assumption that honoring African American culture is sufficient to advance the academic and life prospects for African American students, with the following catastrophic results  >>>>> 

 

Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs)

Student Proficiency Rates

Academic Years Ending in 2014 through 2024

 

                      2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022  2023  2024

 

African                      

American

 

Math          22%   23%   21%  15%  18%   18%   9%   10%   8%     8%      

 

Reading     22%   21%   21%  21%  22%   23%  19%  18% 16%  15%      

 

Science      11%   15%   13%  12%  11%   11%   11%   8%   6%    6%    

 

The LEAD Conference staged by the University of Minnesota College of Human Development is one of those education establishment events full of the very individuals who perpetuate the low quality of public education in the city of Minneapolis, the state of Minnesota, and the nation of the United States, sustaining cyclical poverty at the urban core and making mockery of the avowed purposes of the LEAD conference to promote equity, diversity, and preK-12 systemic improvement.

 

Article #1 in a Two-Article Series >>>>> 2025 LEAD (Leading for Equity, Action, and Diversity for PreK-12 System-Improvement) Conference/College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota/Twin Cities

A Note to My Readers  >>>>>

On Tuesday (29 July 2025), Wednesday (30 July 2025), and Thursday (31 July 2025), the annual LEAD conference will be held at the University of Minnesota Alumni Center.  In a follow-up article, I will assess the credentials of the keynote speakers at this conference and evaluate the likelihood of contribution of the conference to PreK-12 systemic improvement and promoting equity, action, and diversity---   the stated aims of the conference.

For now, please read for yourselves the background information on keynote speakers at the LEAD conference and form your own views as to the academic training of the speakers and the value of this conference in improving PreK-12 education. 

...............................................................................................

2025 LEAD (Leading in Equity, Action, and Diversity (for PreK-12 System-Improvement)/College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota/Twin Cities

 

Day #1  >>>>>    Tuesday, 29 July 2025

Day #2  >>>>>    Wednesday, 30 July 2025

Day #3  >>>>>    Thursday, 31 July 2025

 

Keynote Speakers

 

Dena Simmons

 

Dena Simmons, EdD, is the founder of LiberatED, a collective developing school-based resources at the intersection of social-emotional learning (SEL), racial justice, and healing. Formerly the assistant director of Yale’s Center for Emotional Intelligence, she has been an educator, teacher educator, diversity facilitator, and curriculum developer. A prominent voice on social justice and liberatory pedagogy, Simmons has spoken at the White House, the Obama Foundation Summit, the United Nations, and multiple TED events.

 

Her work has been featured in Education Week, HuffPost, NPR, and PBS’s MAKERS: Women Who Make America. A recipient of numerous fellowships, including Truman, Fulbright, Soros, and Pahara-Aspen, she earned her doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research focuses on teacher preparedness, culturally responsive pedagogy, and the intersection of equity and SEL to foster justice and safe learning environments.

 

Education

 

Ed.D., Health Education & Behavioral Studies

(Teachers College/Columbia University, 2009-2014)

 

M.A., Health Education & Behavioral Studies

(Teachers College/Columbia University, 2009-2014)

 

M.S., Early Childhood Education

(Pace University, 2006-2008)

 

B.A., Spanish and Teacher Education

(Middlebury College, 2001-2005)

 

High School Diploma

(Westover School/Middlebury CT, 1997-2001)

 

Ann M. Ishimaru

 

Ann M. Ishimaru, EdD, is the Killinger Endowed Chair and Professor of Educational Foundations, Leadership and Policy at the University of Washington’s College of Education. Her work in P–12 educational leadership focuses on building collective leadership among youth, families, communities, and educators to advance dignity, justice, and well-being in schools. Her research is grounded in two core ideas: that leadership is key to addressing racial injustice in education, and that those most affected by inequities should help shape solutions. She works to disrupt power imbalances by fostering equitable collaboration between system leaders and racially minoritized communities. As a community-based researcher and director of multiple leadership initiatives, she explores practices that support cross-racial solidarity and community-driven educational change. Her books include Just Schools: Building Equitable Collaborations with Families & Communities (2020) and the forthcoming "Doing the Work” of Equity Leadership for Justice and Systems Change (2025).

 

Education

 

Ed.D., Health Education & Behavioral Studies

(Harvard Graduate School of Education, 2005-2011)

 

B.A., Human Biology

(Standford University, 2001-2005)

 

 

Yvette Jackson

 

Yvette Jackson is a lifelong teacher. She is the winner of the 2019 GlobalMindEd Inclusive Leader 2012 ForeWord Reviews’ Silver Book Award, for her seminal work, The Pedagogy of Confidence: Inspiring High Intellectual Performance in Urban Schools.  She is internationally recognized for her drive to provide and promote pedagogy that supports and celebrates educators fulfilling their commitment as “gifted” teachers and administrator leaders to elicit high intellectual performances and engagement from ALL their students.  Drawing from neuroscience, gifted education, literacy, and the cognitive mediation theory of Jean Piaget’s mentee and her mentor, Dr. Reuven Feuerstein, she developed the assets-focused High Operational Practices to inspire and cultivate students’ strengths for learning, self-determination, and personal achievement.  She has been the CEO of the National Urban Alliance, adjunct professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, and visiting lecturer at the Graduate Schools of Education at Harvard, Stanford, Rutgers, and St. Thomas Universities. Jackson holds multiple degrees from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a BA from Queens College, CUNY.

 

Ed.D.

(Teachers College/Columbia University)

 

B.A.

(Columbia University)

 

 

Sarah Winchell Lenhoff

 

Sarah Winchell Lenhoff, PhD, is an associate professor of educational leadership and policy studies and the Leonard Kaplan Endowed Professor in Wayne State University’s College of Education. Lenhoff began her career as a New York City public school teacher, and she led the research and policy division of the non-profit The Education Trust-Midwest for four years. Her research focuses on education policy implementation and access to equitable educational opportunities, with a focus on how collaborative research with practitioners and community members can facilitate systemic improvement. Her recent research has examined district and school infrastructure to support school improvement; the effects of school choice policy on equitable opportunities for students; and the causes of and practices to reduce student absenteeism. She currently co-leads a study on the educational impact of neighborhood transformation through Detroit's Choice Neighborhoods Initiative in Corktown. She is the faculty director of the Detroit Partnership for Education Equity & Research (Detroit PEER), a research-practice partnership with Detroit schools and community-based organizations working to equitably improve student attendance and engagement in Detroit. She is the author of the new book, Rethinking Chronic Absenteeism: Why Schools Can’t Solve It Alone, now available.

 

Ph.D., Educational Policy

(Michigan State University, 2013)

 

M.A., Health Education & Behavioral Studies

(Teachers College/Columbia University, 2009-2014)

 

M.S., Teaching, Adolescent Education

(Pace University, 2006)

 

B.A., English and Women’s Studies

(University of Georgia, 2004)

 

Minneapolis Pubic Schools Superintendent Lisa Sayles-Adams’s Wretchedly Written Dissertation Microcosmically Represents Multiple Ills of Public Education

Minneapolis Public Schools Superintendent Lisa Sayles-Adams’s dissertation, African American Women Principals: A Phenomenological Study to Explore Their Experiences in K-12 Leadership, should have never been approved by her doctoral committee at Minnesota State University/Mankato.  The dissertation is a travesty of poor grammar, misspelled words, and poor execution of stated purpose and research approach.  Natalie Rasmussen (dissertation adviser), Candace Raskin, and Efe Agbamu have much for which they must answer for having approved this abominably written dissertation.

 

In a dissertation replete with misspelled and misused words, the word, tenet, is rendered as “tenant” two times;  presentation of the word that should be “rein” is given as reign and, most brain-boggling of all, the pseudonym is misspelled as “Marica” rather than “Marcia,” assigned by Sayles-Adams as one of the five interviewees participating in this qualitative study;  Sayles-Adams also once renders another pseudonym, Gwendolyn, as “Gwendoly.” 

 

Beyond errors impermissible for a competently written, reviewed, and edited dissertation, though, are substantive inadequacies of the Sayles-Adams dissertation:

 

The chapters focused on the “Background of the Problem,” “Review of the Literature,” and “Methodology” cover half of the dissertation.  These chapters should have been much briefer, just enough to provide readers with an overview of the literature pertinent to challenges of African American women in positions of leadership and to establish the need for more data and information concerning African American public school principals in particular. 

 

Much of Chapter II, “Review of the Literature” presents information on African American history that is well-covered in a bevy of books (obviating the need for the large number of citations that Sayles-Adams gives) and only tangentially related to the immediate topic of focus:  Sayles-Adams discusses the specific role of African American women principals during the Jim Crow era---  and how those roles and challenges changed in the post-Jim Crow era---  lamentably sparsely.

 

Chapter III, “Methodology,” could also have been much shorter, more concisely discussing the value of qualitative research and oral collections, along with a briefer explanation of Sayles-Adams’s own interview process.  As to her style of interview, Sayles-Adams should have explained why she opted for a virtual rather than physically in-person interview (of the type that that I have always utilized), which provides for more immediacy, nuance, and assessment of visual information.  Also, as I point

out in my “Comments” in the articles of this document, Sayles-Adams fails to follow up with questions the answers to which would have been enormously interesting in understanding more thoroughly the experiences, motivations, and professional goals of her interviewees.

 

These failures in methodology as actually utilized results in very slim findings and shallow discussion.  Sayles-Adams gives appearance of using citations, which should be used sparely if at all in the “Findings” and “Discussion” chapters, to pad those already too short chapters.  An enormous opportunity is lost to discover more profoundly the experiences of African American women principals.  Sayles-Adams more often retreats into other authors’ findings as revealed in the literature in referring to the impact of race and gender on the women principals whom she herself interviewed, rather than providing more engaging material from her own interviews, asking follow-up questions, and thereby depending on her own original research to make a substantial contribution to the literature on African American women leaders in general and on African American women school principals specifically.    

 

The extraordinarily poor quality of Lisa Sayles-Adams’s dissertation makes all the more intriguing the author’s taking the rarely used step of placing the dissertation on “embargoed” status for many months and then taking the nearly unprecedented step of withdrawing her dissertation from public view on the Cornerstone digitalized format. 

 

……………………………………………………………………………..

 

The multiple failings witnessed in the wretchedly researched and written dissertation of Lisa Sayles-Adams presents in high relief the poor quality of most theses written for the flimsy Ed. D. (Education Doctorate), the culpability of education professors who approve such fare, and calls attention to the multiple faults of education professors who inflict their anti-knowledge ideology and intellectual frailty on all administrators and teachers who are so knowledge-deficient and render such insubstantial curriculum to our students.

 

Thus does the abominable dissertation written by Lisa Sayles-Adams microcosmically represent multiple ills of the Minneapolis Public Schools particularly and public education in the United States generally.    

  

Artistic Director Doug Scholz-Carlson and Other Manifold Creative Forces Stage Spectacular Interpretations of Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors, Romeo and Juliet, and Two Gentlemen of Verona at Great River Shakespeare Festival 2025

Doug Scholz-Carlson is a highly thoughtful, creative artistic force who always has a prominent role in selecting the plays to be performed each season at the Great River Shakespeare Festival;  his selections are always thematically relevant to contemporary issues.  

 

Scholz-Carson’s personal directorial turn this year was in Comedy of Errors, for which he made the brilliant decision to insert a soliloquy from Sir Thomas More (a play now widely thought by scholars to have been written by Shakespeare but until recent years often left out of the 38-play canon of the Bard);  the inserted speech within that play constitutes a plea for acceptance and celebration of immigrants in 15^th century London. 

 

One can also see his creative vision at work in the selection of Romeo and Juliet, emphasizing with great vigor that play’s abiding theme as to the personal and societal misery caused by internecine conflict and violence.

 

With the selection of Two Gentlemen of Verona, Doug and the other creative forces at the festival have been able to comment in the context of the latest events and issues of the Trump Tribulation on the willingness of certain personalities to betray friendship, move impulsively from one romantic object to another, and to construct and execute schemes for one’s own gratification at the expense others.

 

The culpable being in Two Gentlemen is Proteus, who simultaneously betrays fellow gentleman Valentine and Julia (his Verona-based betrothed) when, sojourning in Milan (Valentine having arrived before him), he quickly distances himself from thoughts of Julia and turns his lustful attention toward Silvia, Valentine’s beloved and fellow prospective eloper. 

 

Contriving a plan to undermine his rivals, both Valentine and Thurio (to whom Silvia’s father aims to marry her), Proteus finds himself in the end spurned by both Julia (who, carrying forth the Shakespearean trope of traveling female dressed as male, treks to Milan thinking that Proteus will be thrilled when she reveals her identity) and Silvia.  In a very powerful final scene, the frustrated Proteus makes a violent move on Silvia, inducing the returned Valentine to constrain his erstwhile friend and leave him alone and dishonored at mid-stage at play’s end.

 

Much of this resonates with foibles of the Trump Tribulation, generally and with regard to the Jeffrey Epstein degradation.  Handling of the young lovers is different from other Shakespearean plays, in which the Bard cloaks themes pertinent to fickleness, impulsiveness, and infatuation in plot devices resulting in forgivable misunderstandings and, consequently, reunited lovers.  But in this case, neither Valentine nor Julia is inclined to forgive Proteus;  further, Silvia immediately and abidingly saw through the protests of love from the disloyal and unfaithful Proteus, establishing herself as quite a noble heroine.  She and Valentine, whose union is now blessed by Silvia’s father, reunite more firmly and lovingly than ever.  But there is decidedly no reunion for Proteus and the virtuous and dignified Julia.  Proteus, spurned for his disloyalty and unfaithfulness, is left all alone and bereft at the.  WE are reminded that Shakespearean plays classified as comedies nevertheless often issue very serious comments on human nature. 

 

The production of Two Gentlemen of Verona was lively, witty, and well-paced, with spare and playfully selected props that suggested rather than literally presented the physical setting and items therein. The actors were very talented students in the drama program at the University of Tennessee/Knoxville who played their parts with great skill and radiant enthusiasm.  

 

While Comedy of Errors and Romeo and Juliet were staged in the usual Great River Shakespeare Festival venue, the performing arts center of Winona Stage University, Two Gentlemen of Verona was performed at the enormously scenic venue of the National Eagle Center amphitheater.

 

 

Front Matter and Contents >>>>> >Journal of the K-12 Revolution: Essays and Research from Minneapolis, Minnesota< Volume XII, Number Three, September 2025

Volume XII, No. 3                                           

September 2025

   

Journal of the K-12 Revolution:

Essays and Research from Minneapolis, Minnesota

 

 

Current Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education Membership:  Worst in a Decade

 

A Five-Article Series

 

A Publication of the New Salem Educational Initiative

Gary Marvin Davison, Editor    

 

Current Minneapolis Public Schools Board of

Education Membership:  Worst in a Decade

 

A Five-Article Series        

          

Gary Marvin Davison

New Salem Educational Initiative

Copyright © 2025

 

Contents

 

Introductory Comments                                                                                                 

Current Minneapolis Public Schools Board of

Education Membership:  Worst in a Decade

 

Article #1

The Major Disappointments:  Adriana Cerrillo, Sharon El-Amin, and Joyner Emerick

 

Article #2

Creatures of the Establishment:  Greta Callahan, Collin Beachy, and Lori Norvell

 

Article #3

Thirteen Years of Ineffective Membership:  Kim Ellison

 

Article #4: 

The Enigmas of the Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education:

Lucie Skjefte and Abdul Abdi

 

Article #5

The Latest Ineffective Student Representatives:

Lyn Ampey and Isaiah Martin